Beware the forex scam. I worked in finance and then marketing for years, and this is one of those open secrets in the industry. BACKGROUND: forex stands for “foreign exchange”. People who trade forex are buying another country’s currency in the hopes that it’ll go up in value.

You can google it for more, but it’s known as one of the riskiest “investments” in finance. I mean, think about it—you’re trading an entire country’s (or part of the world’s) currency. Everything from civil unrest to natural disasters can make the value fluctuate. ANYONE who says

it’s not risky is LYING. Plain and simple. I know penny stock traders (people who are okay with one of the riskiest forms of trading) who wouldn’t touch forex with a 10 ft pole. It’s basically gambling at the casino. And yet you have people hawking “algorithms” and

“trading methods” like Jesus himself came down to make them rich and wouldn’t you know, they just have to tell *everyone* about it. All you have to do is DM them for details, or click this link to join their trading group! DO NOT FALL FOR THIS. They use what I call

“hustle rhetoric” to attract people who want to better their situation. “Work hard and you’ll be rich”, basically. You’ve seen it before. But “working hard” also apparently means paying for a subscription to their trading group or website, where they’ll give you all the Secrets

to Success in forex. They’ll post screenshots of their “wins” and the “wins” of their followers to entice you. Here’s what’s happening behind the curtain: forex is risky, we talked about that. These guys aren’t special. Maybe they have a 50% win rate, maybe it’s 3%. Either way,

they’ve probably gotten SOMETHING, even if they sank way more into their losses. All they have to do is *not* show those losses, or photoshop a screenshot, or selectively show a win streak to make it look like they’ve made a bunch of money. Then they post that in an ad.

Here’s where the cult-like behavior starts: a psychological phenomenon called choice-supportive bias, or post-purchase rationalization. When you get into one of these groups, you WANT to believe. You want to make money, and you want to justify spending money to get in the group.

The problem is, you’re basically paying to walk into a casino. Some people might make money, but you know the rule about the house: it always wins. So the people winning are either incentivized by their own excitement or the group leader (sometimes through commissions on subs)

to get more people in and keep the ones losing money from leaving. In the worst cases, there is actual harassment for leaving a group or asking for a refund. They’ll insult your worth, your dedication to your family, your “hustle”...whatever will keep you in the group.

The ones who get refunds are lucky. And once again, the group leaders ARE NOT SPECIAL. There is no algorithm or model that can predict when and how world currencies will fluctuate. There are simply too many variables. Please save your money or put it into secured investments.

Calculate your risk. If you get a financial advisor, make sure they’re what’s called a fiduciary—meaning they have to work in your best interest, by law. If it sounds to good to be true, it is. Don’t fall for this stuff, please.

This tweet isn’t exclusive to forex trading (I’ve seen it in penny stocks or “low-cap” or “micro-cap” stocks as well), but I see it most often in forex. There are real psychopaths trying to take advantage of your struggle during this pandemic. Be smart, be savvy, and stay safe